Improved submarine armament of vessels



UNITED STATES l PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER C. SMITH, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED SQPUBMARINE ARMAMENT OF VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,957, dated July 2:?, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OLIvER C. SMITH, of Salem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvenient in the Armament of Vessels of War; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompany ing drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a central longitudinal vertical section of a vessel having my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same. Fig. 8 is an end view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding part-s in the several figures.

To enable others to make and use my im vention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The vessel represented in the drawings is supposed to be armor-clad, and to have a bomb-proof upper deck, A, on` which is a re volving gun-turret, B. It also has two horns, C C, at each end below the load-line for striking an enemys Vessel below the water-line, the said horns being arranged at such distances apart as to permit of the carriages F G F G, by which the mortars or other pieces of ordnance or explosive contrivances are to be run out, to work between them.

The invention is represented as being applied at each end of the vessel. D D are the wells arranged near the ends of the vessel, and each having a narrow opening, a, on the side farthest from the end of the vessel, said openings having each a covered water-tight passage, H, extending any suitable distance inward along the bottom of the vessel and hav ing applied within it a windlass, E, the ends of whoseshaft protrude through stuffing-boxes in oppositesides ofthe passage to the interior ofthe vessel, where itis furnished with cranks b b to enable it to be worked by the hands or by steam or other power on board. At the bottom of each well, on the side toward its respective end of the vessel and below the loadline of the vessel, there is an opening, c, to permit the carriage F G to run out from the vessel under water. On opposite sides of each passage H there are provided horizontal ways d d, on or in which the carriage F G runs, and

long arm, G, of Wrought-iron tubing, pivoted at one end by a horizontal pivot, e, to the inner end of the said slide, and having at its outer end a socket,f, for the reception of the mortar J or other piece of ordnance or any explosive contrivance that it may be desired to use. The inner end of each arm G has attached to it a rope or chain,I g, which runs to and partly round a roller, h, arranged in the opening c, and thence to and around the windlass E, the other end being attached to the inner end of the slide F. Below the outer end of each slide F there is secured to its respective arm G a cord or chain, z', which passes through an opening in the slide F and is secured to a windlass, L, which is arranged on the top of an upright cylinder or trunk, M, arranged on the top of its respective passage H, said windlass being furnished with cranks to be worked by the hands on board, or being suitably connected with a steam-engine or other motor on board. The said cord or chain i passes in contact with a roller, j, at the bottom of the trunk M and through the said trunk.

The water enters the openings c c and into the passages H H, wells D D, and trunks M M, and hence the wells and trunks, being open at the top,are required to extend upward within the vessel some distance above the level of the deepest load-line of thevessel.

In Fig. 1 the carriageF G at the right-hand end of the vessel s represented as drawn into the vessel to bring the mortar J in position for loading or to bring the socketf into a position for the reception of such other explosive contrivance as it may be intended to use, and the carriage at the left-hand end is represented as being run out from the vessel to apply the mortar J under the bottom of an enemys vessel. The loading is effected at or above the mouth of the well Dabove the water, and when this has been done the windlass L is first turned l in a direction to unwind the rope or chain and permit the arm G and the attached mortar to descend to the bottom of the passage H,and

the windlass E is then turned in the direction of the arrow 4, and the rope or chain g thereby caused to run the carriage and mortar along the ways d d outward from the vessel through the opening c, after which the arm G may be,

further lowered, if necessary, by the windlass L to enable it to run under the enemys vessel. The vessel, having my invention applied, is next run directly toward the enernys vessel till the horns C C strike it, and the arm G, if necessary, is raised by turning'the Windlass L in the proper direction until the mortar J is close under the encmys bottom, and the discharge of the mortar is thenefected either by percussion or by electricity from a battery or magnetoelectric machine. To return the carriage F G to a position for reloadinlgthe windlass E is turned in the direction the reverse of that before described, and the carriage and mortar thus drawn back through the opening c, after which they are raised to bring the mortar to the top of the well by turning the windlass L in a direction to wind upthe rope or chain i. In this latter operation the outward end of the slide F rises with the arm G, as

shown at theV right-hand end of Fig. l, an opening', d', being provided in the upper part of the ways d d' to permit such rise of the slide.

I propose, generally, to propel the vessel to which my invention is applied by means of two screw-propellers, N N. At each end P P are the propeller-shafts.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is`

1. The combination ofthe mortars J and mortar-carriages F G with t-he passage H and wells D, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

2. The combination of the windlasses E E L L with thecarriages F G and mortars J, in the manner and for the purpose herein shown and described.' f Y Y 3. The combination of the horns C C and cross-bnr I with the mortar-carriages F G, in the manner herein shown and described.

OLIVER C. SMITH.

Vi/itnesses:Y

HENRY ALLENDER, Jas. LLOYD GREENE. 

